Getting the cooking bug back: ideas to try

Beans and ham hock

Beef winter soup

Red lentil dal (new favorite)

Lentil soup for a small planet

Meyer Lemon risotto

Meyer Lemon pasta

Sardines with potatoes (success!)

Fillet and soba noodles

Minestrone

Wild boar and lentil soup

Braised leeks

Risotto

Prep time: 1 hour

Risotto is not lazy-man friendly, but it’s very satisfying and much more decadent than its reasonable calorie count suggests.  Once every couple months, in exchange for stirring a pot for 40 minutes, you get to eat something that very few restaurants have the patience to do a decent job of.  You can make it as a side or as a meal in itself, and the character can easily be modified by featuring different ingredients.  It’s worth the work.  On the other hand, it’s apparently so much work that I was too exhausted to take a picture…

Tools

• knife and cutting board
• big pot
• wooden spoon

Calorie Estimate for the base: 1900

Ingredients

• 2 C arborio rice (necessary for maximum creaminess)
• 6 C chicken broth (+ water to finish)
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large shallot, diced
• 1 C grated parmesan (or pecorino)
• olive oil to just coat the bottom of the pan
• 1 C wine (I prefer white, but there’s no real rule other than nothing too tannic)

Extras, depending on the day and purpose:

• 8 oz mushrooms, sliced (I prefer crimini to white)
• 2 oz dried mushrooms (lobster, porcini, etc) (reconstituted for about an hour, mix the liquid in with the broth)
• truffle oil (at most 1 t per pot)
• sausage, partially-cooked and sliced
• roasted red peppers, slivered
• eggplant, cubed
• spinach, shredded
• tomato paste
• etc…

Method

1. Dice the onion and garlic.  With a little olive oil in the bottom of a pot big enough to hold everything comfortably, soften the onion and garlic over medium heat for a few minutes.
2. Toss in the rice, mix and toast for a couple minutes.  Then pour in the cooking wine to deglaze the bottom of the pan.  Stir until wine is taken up by the rice.
3. Now, the work begins. Over medium-low heat, add about a 1 C of broth to the mix.  Keep stirring.  After the broth is taken up, add another cup.  Keep stirring.  Keep adding broth cup by cup, each time waiting until it’s mostly taken up before adding another, and stir always.  The stirring helps draw starch out of the rice, and adding broth cup by cup ensures you don’t put in too much liquid.  If the rice is still a little crunchy after the 6 cups of broth have been added, finish it with water, using the same method.During this stage, add in other base ingredients, depending on their cooking time. I usually add sausage with about 20 minutes left.  Reconstituted dried mushrooms, I add as I take up the liquid/broth mixture.  Light veggies like spinach or green onions get added at the very end of cooking.
4. Before serving, mix in the parmesan cheese and any ready-to-eat veggies if you’re using them.  Serve hot and enjoy.

Even without the cheese, the risotto is creamy from the starch.  That’s the big secret: it’s rich as if it was loaded with cream, but there’s none.